Drop Dead Gorgeous

Previously only ever witnessed, briefly, at the scene of their demise, corpses have become a central part of many popular American television shows in the twenty-first century. From Autopsy to Six Feet Under, extended portrayals of dead bodies - in the morgue, in the embalming room, or in pathology - now confront viewers, eliciting not only anxiety but also fascination. Shedding new light on the media's ideals of beauty and the body, "Drop Dead Gorgeous" analyzes representations of corpses on TV through cultural, sociological, and historical lenses, providing detailed pictorial and film analysis using interviews with producers, make-up artists, and coroners.